Monday's
shouldn't be that cool. Not in the literal, temperature-wise sense of
course. It was actually quite humid last night -- with the Middle East's ceiling either leaking or sweating. Rather, I'm talking cool in the sense that
Ishmael Butler wore linen shorts and rapped in a non-associative flow,
resembling what most rappers would sound like if they actually ingested
as much lean as they typically boast on.

I have a sick obsession with Habits & Contradictions.
Typically my order of events when reviewing a new disc goes something
like this: give it a near ad nauseum amount of spins; write the review;
toss it aside, to be revisited in a couple months, or maybe never. But that
wasn't the case with this sophmore offering from SCHOOLBOY Q

Sustainability
in indie music is a motherfucker, probably more so than any other realm of
music. All it really takes in pop music is one hit, then you can slide off
comfortably, unto giant piles of cash. Hip-hop is different because
recognition is a damn near impossible task in it's own right. Nowadays, a
record contract is a pipe dream unless you're willing to compromise
your integrity via swag and a snap-back.

The
internet is a cold and faceless place where actions rarely have
consequences. For example, if Youtube user shermrock18 wants to leave a
comment to the effect of "yo who in﻿ the fuck like this bullshit ass
rapper ya'll must be on crack" on LIL B's video for "(INFAMOUS) Princess BASED FREESTYLE PT.2," he or she can.

Been a while since we posted an Awesome Video Alert, but this new clip from metal dudes BRING THE KNIFE easily makes the cut because it's a bunch of familiar Boston faces lip-syncing two otherwise brilliant words that get all next-level when said together: "Werewolf" and "Fuckdown."

The cast also chips in to assist front man Duncan Wilder Johnson with the rest of the lyrics, but really, it's the "Werewolf Fuckdown" part that get us all warm and fuzzy inside.

With contagious hooks and hauntingly sweet '60s-girl-group vocals, it’d be easy to tag local up-and-comers DREAM HITS as just another beach-pop act fighting for towel space in the sand. But in reality, the duo from Emerson College brings some much needed hi-fi grit to a typically fuzzy, sun-soaked scene.

Not everybody had the dexterity required to crawl out of the 3516 basement unscathed. But not only did HAVE NOTS survive their first show on Halloween 2006 at the fabled jubilant purgatory of punk in Jamaica Plain (where an apparently nice, mellow Christian family moved in after the landlord rebuilt the joint), they’ve since mastered the craft of state-smashin’ ska punk.

Oh sure, there was the beginning of a Rumble going on last night in Cambridge, but somewhere along the way I found the time to catch two phenomenal post-punk performances around town -- noisy San Francisco trio WEEKEND opened for Wire at the Middle East (next door to TTs Rumble'ing) and a reunited PROTOKOLL threw down in Allston, the second of a two-night stand (and shout!) at Great Scott that saw the once-promising Boston band play their first shows in four years.

WIRE are often pegged as minimal, but a conversation with main-man COLIN NEWMAN tends to be anything but—meaning of course that when we featured them in this week’s issue, a lot of great interview clips were bound to hit the cutting room floor. The band’s latest, this winter’s Red Barked Tree, continues the band’s winning streak they’ve been running since 2003’s shockingly awesome Send, and their current triumphant run sees them coming to the Middle East Downstairs Sunday night, April 3rd.

Can you cover Michael Jackson and get away with it? The Stone Roses' Ian Brown did a few times, Alien Ant Farm (unfortunately) built a (thankfully short-lived) career out of it, and we won't even get into Glee. This week we can add Boston's BAD RABBITS to the list, and maybe move them to the top of it with the latest video/download in their online covers series (we posted their Deftones cover of "Sextape" last month).

Last year, Deftones frontman Chino Moreno dropped by the Los Angeles studio where BAD RABBITS were recording their debut album with New Jack Swing über-producer Teddy Riley. The multi-genre rock band released a video of the visit and revealed themselves as huge fans of the California alt-metal veterans.